OBJECTIVE: To create guidelines focused on the use of structured physical activity (PA) in the management of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). DATA SOURCES: A systematic literature search was conducted using the electronic databases Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Medline (Ovid), EMBASE (Ovid), and Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) for all studies related to PA programs for JIA from January 1966 until December 2014, and was updated in May 2015...

OBJECTIVE: To identify the relative importance of positive (facilitators) and negative (barriers) contributors to living with chronic pain after spinal cord injury (SCI). DESIGN: Mixed-methods: (1) Qualitative: Individual semi-structured, open-ended interviews identifying facilitator/barrier themes; (2) Quantitative: Converting the most common themes into statements and quantifying agreement with these in an online survey to determine relative importance, underlying dimensions and their associations with perceived difficulty in dealing with pain...

OBJECTIVE: To determine comorbidities that cause pain and the potential contributors to pain in individuals with COPD. DESIGN: Prospective cross-sectional survey study. SETTING: Pulmonary rehabilitation programs of six centers. PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of individuals with COPD who attended pulmonary rehabilitation programs (n=137). In total, 100 (73%) returned the survey packages. Of those responders, 96 (70%) participants were included in the analyses...

OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy of an educational physiotherapy home exercise intervention on physical improvement, pain perception, quality of life and illness behavior in patients with hemophilic arthropathy. DESIGN: A single-blind randomized study. SETTING: Home PARTICIPANTS: 20 patients with hemophilia were randomly allocated to an educational intervention group or to a control group. INTERVENTION: The educational intervention was performed every two weeks over a 15-week period and home exercises were carried out once a day, 6 days a week, over the same period...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this descriptive exploratory study is to record the temporal spatial parameters and metabolic energy expenditure during walking of individuals with amputation, walking with advanced prostheses and following completion of comprehensive rehabilitation, to able-bodied controls. DESIGN: Cross-sectional SETTING: Multi-disciplinary comprehensive rehabilitation centre PARTICIPANTS: Thirty severely injured United Kingdom military personnel with amputation and subsequent completion of their rehabilitation programme (10 unilateral trans-tibial, 10 unilateral trans-femoral, and 10 bilateral trans-femoral) were compared to (and of similar age, height and mass (p >0...

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine differences in hip abductor (ABD) strength and composition between older adults who primarily use medial vs cross-step recovery strategies to lateral balance perturbations. DESIGN: Cross-Sectional SETTING: University Research Laboratory PARTICIPANTS: Forty community dwelling older adults divided into medial steppers (N=14) and cross-steppers (N=26) based on first step of balance recovery after a lateral balance perturbation...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate quality of life (QoL) and psychosocial wellbeing in youth with Neuromuscular Disorders (NMD) who are wheelchair users. DATA SOURCES: Medline, Embase, CINAHL and PsycINFO (January 2004 to April 2016) and reference lists of retrieved full-text papers. STUDY SELECTION: Peer-reviewed studies were included when data describing self-reported QoL and psychosocial wellbeing could be separately understood for those using wheelchairs and aged 12-22 years old...

OBJECTIVE: To examine aphasia outcomes and to determine whether the observed language profiles vary by race-ethnicity. DESIGN: Retrospective cross sectional study using a convenience sample of persons of with aphasia (PWA) obtained from AphasiaBank, a database designed for the study of aphasia outcomes. SETTING: Aphasia research laboratories in the US. PARTICIPANTS: 381 (339 Whites and 42 Black) persons with aphasia (PWA)...

OBJECTIVE: To determine which clinical measures of physical function (i.e. gait, balance, grip strength) best represent long-term EMG in persons with PD compared to healthy controls. DESIGN: Cross sectional study. SETTING: Community PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-three males and females with PD and 14 healthy controls, living independently at home, aged 50 years and older were recruited from the local community. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Measures of gait, balance and grip strength were completed and EMG was examined in biceps brachii, triceps brachii, vastus lateralis and biceps femoris during a 6...

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effect of non-invasive ventilation (NIV) on exercise performance in individuals with heart failure (HF). DESIGN: Crossover, randomized, blind clinical trial with allocation concealment. SETTING: University-based research laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: 8 women and 16 men with New York Heart Association class II-III left heart failure between the ages of 51.8 ± 10.2 years. INTERVENTIONS: Ventilatory support was administered at two pressure levels for 30 minutes attached to the face of the individual via a facemask prior to Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test (CPET)...